'Doc' (1971)

7/10

classicsoncall14 May 2009

Warning: Spoilers

It's been a long while since I've watched 1993's "Tombstone" and 1994's "Wyatt Earp", and my recollection is that I enjoyed them both quite well. It's a pretty fair conclusion to draw that none of the films depicting Wyatt Earp and the events at the OK Corral were ever done entirely accurately, but those two came pretty close, depending on your view of the Earp Brothers and their place in Western legend. For what it's worth, "Doc" may be even more historically accurate regarding the motives of Wyatt and his ambitions in Tombstone, even if the film's finale is entirely off the mark. The 'real' gunfight, as much as history can offer us, lasted only about thirty seconds, with thirty one shots fired, and only the McLaury Brothers and Bill Clanton dead. Before he was cut down, Clanton injured Virgil and Morgan, while Doc Holliday caught a bullet in the hip. Unarmed Ike Clanton and young Billy Clayborn (not a character here, but presumably 'The Kid') backed out of the fight and ran away.

This revisionist telling of the Earp legend won't please everyone, so if you'll be offended by the portrayal of the Earps here as opportunistic heels, it's a fair bet you should stay away. A 1998 compilation of fact based histories titled "Gunfighters of the West" from Wellspring Entertainment offers a compelling view of both the Earps and the Clantons, and neither is pretty. While the Clantons and McLaury's represented the rowdy 'cowboy' element, the Earps weren't above running gambling tables and brothels, while operating as a veritable protection racket for the good folks of Tombstone. Virgil was the assistant town marshal to Sheriff Johnny Behan, and Morgan often rode shotgun on the Benson stagecoach. Both Behan and Wyatt had designs on becoming Sheriff of Cochise County (not Tombstone), because that's where the money was. The county sheriff job, through taxation and other forms of revenue, was worth about forty thousand dollars; translate that into more than a half million today.

Fact and fiction parallel nicely here in the latter half of the picture when Wyatt (Harris Yulin) tries to make a deal with Ike Clanton (Michael Witney) by offering twenty thousand dollars for turning in Ringo Kid (Denver John Collins) for the stagecoach robbery. Historically, the smooth and popular Johnny Behan got Wyatt to back out of running for County Sheriff if Wyatt would accept a Chief Deputy position, with both splitting the spoils of the office. When Behan reneged, the bad blood between the two only heightened, and was made more complicated by Wyatt moving in on Behan's girl, Josephine 'Josie' Marcus.

But wait a minute, this is John Henry 'Doc' Holliday's picture. A dentist by trade, and a gambler and gunman by conviction, Stacy Keach's portrayal rivals that of Val Kilmer's in 'Tombstone" (personally, I like Kilmer better). Doc's reputation as the fastest, deadliest and best gunfighter of the territory was well warranted, but it surprised me (and quite frankly bothered me), that the film writers had Doc involved in that cowardly kill of The Kid in the finale. Along with the entirely one sided portrayal of the Earps as dirt bags, it's not too much of a stretch to say that even-handedness didn't get in the way of this story's outcome.

All that said, it's probably wishful thinking that a completely unbiased telling of the OK Corral legend could ever be told, with adherents on both sides of the fence regarding the reputations of the Earp Brothers and Doc Holliday. If you side with the detractors, you'll probably go along with Doc's assessment when he says to his friend - "You sound like bad people Wyatt". Earp's response - "We are John".

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6/10

A Look At the Man Behind the Gun

EmperorNortonII20 September 2002

"Doc" is similar to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," in that it is a revisionist Western attempting to explode some mythology of the American West, which earlier Hollywood Westerns would glamourize. Here, Doc Holliday and Marshall Wyatt Earp are shown as not quite the good guys Hollywood has long portrayed them to be. The story of "Doc" follows the legendary outlaw Dr. John Henry "Doc" Holliday and his lover "Big Nose Kate" Elder on their way to the storied Gunfight at the OK Corral. Doc Holliday is played by Stacy Keach, as a soft-spoken gent who is deadly with a six-shooter. The film is gritty and dirty, but the profane dialogue seems like it was added just because the screenwriter could. My biggest problem is that the scenes look like they cut away too soon, and should go on at least a few seconds longer. "Doc" may not tell the true story of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, but at least tries to keep an enduring Western legend alive.

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7/10

Worth it for Keachs' fine performance.

Hey_Sweden24 February 2016

At the very least, the Western drama 'Doc' manages to be somewhat interesting from start to finish, if not exactly factual. It tells the very familiar story of Marshal Wyatt Earp and John "Doc" Holiday in revisionist terms, and takes a very gritty, moody, psychological approach to the material, courtesy screenwriter Pete Hamill. It traces the journey of Doc (Stacy Keach) as he makes the acquaintance of prostitute Katie Elder (a de-glamorized Faye Dunaway) and rides into Tombstone to hook up with his old friend Wyatt (Harris Yulin), and to deal with the problem of such trouble making characters as Ike Clanton (Michael Witney).

Keach is the main reason to catch this film. Deliberately paced by cult filmmaker Frank Perry (best known for the 1981 camp classic "Mommie Dearest"), who produced and directed, it attempts to be as un-Hollywood as possible, and show darker aspects to these real life people, especially Earp, played as an opportunist. Perry's film begins on a very atmospheric note, as Doc arrives at an isolated inn / saloon during a windstorm. Ways in which the script humanizes Doc are how it charts his unusual courtship of Ms. Elder (appealingly portrayed by Dunaway) and his relationship with the well meaning "Kid" (Denver John Collins), who is the nephew of the Clanton brothers.

Keachs' engaging, melancholy performance is something to see. Veteran character actor Yulin is also quite good, in a rare above the title role for him. The supporting cast is comprised of less well known but still solid character players like John Scanlon, Richard McKenzie, Penelope Allen, Antonia Rey, Marshall Efron, and Bruce M. Fischer. That's writer Dan Greenburg as Clum the journalist, who in this fictionalization is decidedly anti-Earp.

It might be worth considering pairing this film with another gritty Western from the same time period, "Dirty Little Billy", which similarly took an offbeat approach to telling a familiar real life tale (in that case, that of Billy the Kid).

Seven out of 10.

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Good but depressing

Blaise_B2 March 2003

The best thing about this film is the first half hour, the classic posturing in the first scene ("We ain't got no cold beer"), Doc and Kate Elder's damaged courtship, a stark, music-less ride across scorching desert. The first glimpse of Tombstone (the town, not the movie) is equally exhilarating, everything is dirty and chaotic, men are fighting in the streets. From that point on, much of the film is boring and slow, though there was enough to hold my attention throughout. Seeing how the story will unfold is the most riveting aspect. The ending is satisfying enough, as is the script's odd take on how and why Doc wound up in the fateful gunfight at the coral. The performances are good all around. It warrants mentioning here that this movie is no more historically accurate than other films on the subject. Two major inconsistencies were already mentioned, and most historians' and witnesses' accounts have Doc playing a much more active role in events leading up to the fight. The overall feel of the film, though, is much more believable than your average Hollywood western. That's probably the most satisfying thing here next to the cast: the physical details, the look and feel. Just pretend the characters are all made up. And don't watch it if you're already in a bad mood.

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6/10

Revisionist and twilight Western plenty of tension , thrills and gunplay ; being shot in Almeria , Spain

ma-cortes28 November 2015

This demystifying "Doc" (Frank Perry, 1971) packs a good cast with Harris Yulin , Faye Dunaway and Stacy Keach . Three nice actors in a huge exciting production . They form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral . At the beginning Doc Holliday , a famous poker gambler , one day he challenges a man to poker , betting his horse against his opponent's woman . There he meets Katie Fisher, also known as Katie Elder (Faye Dunaway) , will follow him wherever he goes . Their next destination is Tombstone , where the law is represented by Sheriff Wyatt Earp . They fought shoulder to shoulder in the wildest stand-up gunfight in the history of the West . They are the strangest alliance between the West's most famous sheriff , Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin) , trying to overcome outlaws and its deadliest gambling killer , Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) . When he arrives in Tombstone , the election campaign is in full swing . Earp runs for candidate but the Clantons , a family gang of outlaw cowboys, are not among his keenest supporters . Conflict erupts following the failure of some shadowy bargaining and Doc decides to join Wyatt and his brothers , Virgil (John Bottoms), Morgan and James . There they would see them in a feud with the Clantons led by Ike (Mike Witney) , a local clan of ruthless thugs and cattle thieves . When the showdown becomes inevitable , the help will come from Doc Holliday , a terminally-ill gambler who happens to be another Wild West legend . The four of them gather at the O.K. Corral where the seven Clanton brothers along with The Kid (Denver Collins) are waiting for them . The film correctly builds up its suspense until a tense battle in streets of Tombstone . One day of 1881, it takes place the famed shoot'em up among Wyatt , Doc , Billy , Ike Clanton , McLowery and Ringo .

This trigger-taut Western drama deals with a lawman and a badman , the strangest friendship this side of heaven and hell . It's incomparably performed by the greatest team who ever went into action , Harris Yulin portrays the large-than-life lawman , living by the old rules , driven by revenge , dueling to the death and Stacy Keach is most impressive as a gunslinger , the hellfire gambler , his only friends were his guns and his only refuge was a woman's heart . ¨Doc¨ has an evocative cinematography , well made by Gerald Hirschfeld , being filmed on location in Manzanares Del Real , La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo and Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and 70s had been shot lots of Spaghetti/Paella Westerns . Furthermore , atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Jimmy Webb . The motion picture was professionally directed by Frank Perry . He was an expert on dramas that enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with his wife , the playwright and screenwriter Eleanor Perry . As he directed ¨David and Lisa¨ , ¨Man on a Swing¨, ¨Play It As It Lays¨, ¨Diary of a mad housewife¨ and his two greatest successes were ¨The swimmer¨ and ¨ Mommie dearest¨ also with Faye Dunaway .

The film is set in Tombstone where Earp finds Holliday and helps him against Ike , Billy Clanton , Johnny Ringo and McCloury . The final part focuses Tombstone , 1881 , with stimulating scenes about OK Corral gunfight between Morgan , Virgil , Wyatt Earp , Doc against the nefarious Ike , Billy Clanton , Johnny Ringo, and Tom McLowery . The main character is a historical figure , in this case the sheriff Wyatt Earp who participated the most famous duel occurred in the western town of Tombstone in 1881 that has been brought to the big screen many times , as in the classic "My Darling Clementine" in 1946 directed by John Ford with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature , or the more modern "Tombstone : The Legend of Wyatt Earp" (George P. Cosmatos, 1993) with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer and ¨Wyatt Earp¨ (Lawrence Kasdan, 1994) with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid . And , of course, the best version resulted to be ¨Gunfight at O.K. Corral¨ by John Sturges with Burt Lancaster , Kirk Douglas , Jo Van Fleet , Rhonda Fleming , Ted De Corsia , among others . John Sturges would resume the same story in the inferior "The Hour of the Gun" (1967) with Jason Robards , James Garner and John Voight

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6/10

Gunfight At The OK Corral Version 27

boblipton20 March 2020

Stacy Keach is Doc Holliday in the umpteenth retelling of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Faye Dunaway is Big Nose Kate, the woman he runs into in a bordello and falls in love with. Harris Yukon is Wyatt Earp, various other people play various other people, and if there's a point to director Frank Perry's handling of Pete Hamill's script, it's that the Old West was a dirty place. Not figuratively, but literally so in need of a good cleaning that cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld shoots all the interiors with a sepia tint. Even Miss Dunaway's white wedding dress looks ivory,

It's not presented as a story, but more as a series of events that happen to some ill-defined people. Of course, in many stories, it's the actions which tell us the characters, but Kerch seems to be just going along with things. I suppose that's a character, and it seems likely that a man who has been dying for years of tuberculosis might adopt the attitude. Still, it gives the impression that any random character at these events could have been the subject. One of the horses, perhaps.

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7/10

Atypical Western but Typical for When it was Made

LeonLouisRicci25 September 2016

Stacy Keach and Faye Dunaway give Good Performances as "Doc" Holiday and Katie Elder, and is Central to, Yet Again, a Movie about those mostly Mythological Personalities, Wyatt Earp and "Doc", Climaxing, Yet Again, with The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

The Point in this one is to Demystify to a Degree about the Motivation and Moral Certitude of the often Predictable Personas of these "Shootist".

It's a Gloomy, Murky, Soft Spoken Style with most of the Acting done with the Eyes and a Whisper. Thought Provoking and it does Dusty Duty Covering things with a Haze of Grit. The Tense Atmosphere is Realistic and the Suspense Builds with much Philosophizing and Reflection.

The Film certainly has it Moments as well as its Detractors. It is more of an Intellectual Introspection of Famous/Infamous Men. Wild Men, who had to be to Survive, in the Wild West. Some of these Folks had Visions of Civilizing the Frontier. Witness Wyatt's (Henry Yulin) Speech after the Gunfight and "Doc's" Final Act of Violence.

Overall, Atypical Western in the Traditional Sense but Typical for its Time Period. Underrated and Worth a Watch.

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7/10

If you watch it as the fictional story it was intended to be based loosely on the life of Doc Holliday you won't be disappointed

Ed-Shullivan29 June 2022

For those IMDb reviewers who are critical of the historical (in)accuracy I say hooey. Stacey Keach who plays "Doc" Holliday and Faye Dunaway who plays Doc's love interest the whore Katie Elder put on a memorable performance for a period western love/hate romance when men were men, and when women were mostly treated worse than cattle.

The cinematography is the perfect blend of a dusty tumbleweed town, dingy saloons and gunfights in the street that will keep you wanting more of both the gun play and the foreplay between Keach and Dunaway.

I give this western a solid 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.

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1/10

the o.k. corral again, only this time Wyatt Earp's the badguy

dougbrode20 March 2006

The way director Frank Perry and screenwriter Pete Hamill must have figured it, if George Custer could go from a hero to a villain after the impact of one movie - Arthur Penn's Little Big Man - then they could similarly destroy the lofty reputation of Wyatt Earp with a degrading film portrait. Here's their problem: Little Big Man, however fair or unfair it is to Custer, is terrific film-making from beginning to end. Not so this utter disaster of an attempt to make a revisionist western of the type so popular in the early seventies, when the youth movement and hippie era allowed for nasty portraits of the military and the police on screen, just so long as they were set back in a period of history so that no one around today would get too offended. Harris Yulin is a lackluster Earp, who with Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) and Kate Fisher/Elder (Fay Dunaway) head for Tombstone. In this version, they don't go there to provide true law in the best sense but to use the law to make money. There certainly is a certain amount of truth in that, but the film errs by trying to offer a corrective to the mythic Earp and Company and so, to alleviate all the whitewashing, paints them dirty colors instead. The people who like this movie are the ones who believe that anything 'negative' is also 'realistic,' which doesn't happen to be the case. In this anti-Earp diatribe, history is rewritten even more ludicrously than it was in the pro-Earp films that preceded and followed this one. "Hello, Bones" Kate says to Doc; "Hello, bitch," he replies. Think that's clever? If you do, this film's for you. On the other hand, if you want to see an absolutely brilliant revisionist film about law and order in the west, check out Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller, made about the same time, and a truly great film that achieves what Doc tries and fails to do. The O.K. Corral gunfight has never bee so totally misrepresented as it is here, even though the attitude of the filmmakers is that "we're telling you the truth for the first time." They simply replace positive lies with negative ones. Another historical gaff: The Tombstone Epitaph is portrayed (along with its editor John Clum) as being anti-Earp, when they were pro-Earp; the Nugget, another paper, was the anti-Earp one.

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7/10

Gritty, melodramatic, surreal, underrated version of the Holliday/Earp saga

Wuchakk15 December 2014

"Doc" (1971) is another cinematic account of the events leading up to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. As the title suggests, this version focuses a little more on Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) and his woman Kate (Faye Dunaway). Harris Yulin plays Wyatt Earp.

In the 60s and 70s filmmakers rebelled against the unrealistic and even goofy tone of many prior Westerns and focused on something closer to the gritty truth of the Old West. That's what you get with "Doc," albeit with a hefty helping of melodrama and surrealism. Previous film versions made Wyatt out to be a veritable hero, like 1957's "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," where the climatic gunfight went on forever. In reality it only lasted like 30 seconds and this movie shows this. I'm not saying "Doc" is the most accurate portrayal of the events because it's not. Costner's "Wyatt Earp" (1994) comes closest to the truth (so far), but it too takes liberties with the subject. Despite what curmudgeonly critics of "Doc" say – that "it replaces positive lies with negative lies" – it isn't that much different of a take on the subject than Costner's version or 1993's "Tombstone."

The characters of Doc and Kate are roughly the same; the most significant change is that Wyatt is portrayed less positively. And this explains the mass denunciation of "Doc" – people don't like their sacred heroes being maligned. But "Doc" should at least be given credit for being the first film on the topic where these "heroes" are shown closer to who they really were. Forget Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, Hugh O'Brian, et al, Yulin is truer to the spirit of Wyatt's intention to clean up the town at all costs, settle some scores, and get rich in the process.

Besides, no film that comes out of Hollywood is accurate. They're all skewed by the times and political persuasions of those involved. "Doc" came out at the tail-end of the Vietnam fiasco where authority figures were no longer trusted and the movie reflects this. It's no different than any other inaccurate Hollywood history lesson (e.g. "My Darling Clementine" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral) and is actually closer to the truth in some ways. Furthermore, "Doc" isn't a documentary -- none of the films about Earp/Holliday are – they're MOVIES. And this is a well-made, well-acted version of the tale with an interestingly grim outlook and script where Keach and Dunaway are at their best.

Speaking of Keach, Brian Garfield castigated the film in his book "Western Films," denouncing Keach's portrayal of Holliday as "robust" when nothing could be further from the truth. Keach plays Doc as a thin, seriously half-dying man who's not sure what he wants, but is still relatively likable, at least more so than Earp.

As for Doc's unattractive babe, Big-Nose Kate, people criticize that Dunaway was "too glamorous" in the role, but she worked fine for me (besides, I don't remember any of the other versions casting a homely woman in the role). This brings up something exceptional about "Doc": The dust and dirt on the people – their clothing and faces – smacks of the way it really was in the Old West more-so than previous renditions.

Some people have said that this version makes the Clantons more positive, but I didn't see it. They're depicted as the dirtbag troublemakers they were and the hatred between them and the Earps is palpable. "Doc" takes an evenhanded approach to the material and shows flaws on both sides, but still ends up somewhat siding with Doc and the Earps.

There are some slow parts but the drama kept my interest and memorable parts abound, like Doc & Kate's journey across the desert, Wyatt's confrontation with the Clantons and the ensuing knock-down-drag-out fight with Ike (excellently portrayed by Michael Witney), Doc's rollicking rescue of Kate from a house of ill repute and the dynamic climatic gunfight.

One negative is that the film was shot in Spain and you can always tell the difference between Spain and the American Southwest, but – I have to admit – the locales are excellent and sometimes stunning, like the Clanton ranch.

Final Word: I don't get why this version of the Earp/Holliday saga is so despised and obscure. It's a gritty, engrossing depiction of the events that offers potential insights to the table, although it probably goes too far to the negative with Wyatt; and even Doc at the climax (you'll know what I mean). Nevertheless, it smacks of solemn realism (despite its inaccuracies) with a side of surrealism. "Doc" is a worthy addition to the myriad cinematic renditions of the famous events.

An American production shot in Spain with some parts in Old Tucson, the film runs 96 minutes.

GRADE: B

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4/10

Taking another twist on a legendary trio, and it doesn't quite come together.

mark.waltz6 August 2017

Warning: Spoilers

There are moments of silence in this avant garde western where you might find yourself reaching for aspirin because of a silence is deafening headache. As Doc Hollifay, Stacy Keach speaks in such low tones that you want to check his pulse to check if the life is fading out of him. The exquisitely beautiful Faye Dunaway is initially seen dirty and disgusting, a prostitute so filthy that disease seems to ooze off of her. Clean her up, and she's in a bridal gown, literately carrying Keach over the threshold. Harris Yulin is Doc's old friend, Marshal Wyatt Earp, determined to clean up Tombstone even if he has to steal the upcoming election to do so. These three try to hold together an obscure artistic western that fails to come together and retain interest.

At times, it seems that Tombstone is built over dead ground, so bland and empty that it seems like those who live there are ghost already. The actors are directed to either speak slowly and softly with long pauses, or be so crude that they come off as walking slimebags who you just don't want to see on screen. I can see people either loving this or hating it, and while I just found it aggravating, I have to call myself annoyed by it. Sometimes a certain piece of artwork is a masterpiece to some while others don't want to invest time analyzing it. I finally got to the point where I just closed my eyes and let the purposely soothing voices steer me to sleep.

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8/10

Keach at the Top of Form!

shepardjessica5 July 2004

Stacy Keach, who plays Doc Holliday in this film, made some incredible films between 1968 and 1974 and this is a Western epic (where he's the lead for a change) and kicks some Western butt on an old legend about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, the west and Faye Dunaway plays Kate. Check out this early 70's GOOD FILM about America.

Harris Yulin (who nobody knows) did plays and other films with Keach in the good old days - I'm not even into westerns since The Wild Bunch and The Man With No Name fllms, this script was Pretty Much on the mark about these cats! The old west, no guns allowed in Tombstone (SAYS WHO?) These guys, with worthy adversaries, and great dialogue in a movie nobody saw (unless, in 1971, you were a revisionist like Squint Eastwood did 20 years later in Unforgiven (a great film). Anyway, if you can find it (and Judy Collins' kid brother plays Billy in this) the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral will never be the same (no matter what your fantasies are concerning Western fact). Keach was the man for seven years. Trust me - I saw him on stage in New York and London. Well worth your time (Keach, Dunaway, and Harris Yulin fans), especially if you like Westerns cutting against the grade (even then); highly recommended (resembles The Hired Hand by Peter Fonda).

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6/10

low LOW key...

JasparLamarCrabb30 March 2009

Warning: Spoilers

Low key to say the least, this Frank Perry film debunks the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday/Clanton Bros. myth by removing any trace of romanticism or heroism. The characters in this movie are full of regret, fear and, particularly in Holliday's case, a real sense of melancholia. As Doc Holliday, Stacy Keach gives an exceptional performance, underplaying throughout. He's matched by Harris Yulin as an unlikely Earp. There's great chemistry here. Faye Dunaway is Kate Elder, a prostitute (minus even a hint of a heart of gold) who finds herself, if not in love with Holliday, at least hitching her hopes of a better life to him. This is a film with very little hope and director Perry creates a real sense of sadness these desperate characters must have felt. The extremely rich screenplay is by Pete Hamill and the supporting cast includes Penelope Allen as Earp's wife, Michael Witney as a particularly nasty Ike Clanton and Denver John Collins as Clanton's nephew, a not so bright bulb who hero worships Holliday. Sassy Antonia Rey has a cameo as Concha. A great anti-western.

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1/10

just plain bad

natamin18 October 2005

This movie indeed skips the epic parts that made Wyatt Earp and his pals famous,but other than that its a total fabrication or even worse, a bad attempt to falsify history. I know that Mr.Earp wasn't a very nice guy and doc holliday, sick as he was, had nothing to lose anyway so he for sure was a dangerous one. But in this movie he is a nice guy that even befriends the enemy.... (don't make me laugh)...and even worse, he draws his gun on Wyatt Earp! Was this director on drugs or did he wish the story would have been this way? I watched this movie stunned and couldn't believe what i saw.... If you want to see what really happened then go watch tombstone or Wyatt Earp, those are the closest thing to the truth as far as it gets. And forget the hero stuff around it, cause the thing is heroes are made by others and none of those men where close to being one, they just where on a collision course and the whole drama was unavoidable. Just think what would have happened had they lost the gunfight???

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Historically, this movie is what one found in the stalls at the O. K. Corral.

Bilwick110 April 2006

As a movie it is a semi-interesting curiosity. What I find amusing is the comments of some people have made here, to the effect that unlike the romantic fantasies of previous Wyatt Earp movies, this movie finally reveals the ugly truth behind the legends. I have been studying frontier history for about forty years and to anyone who thinks the events in DOC (even allowing for dramatic license) have any connection to historic fact, I say: Only on the Bizarro Planet, Cheech. As someone else wrote, all it does it replace positive lies with negative lies. I remember when the movie came out, the producer-director was plugging it on TV boasting of how much research had gone into this movie; likewise, in a preface to a paperback edition of his screenplay (which, as I recall, was even stupider than the actual movie), Pete Hamill wrote solemnly about how he--crackerjack journalist that he is--had seemingly unearthed the long-hidden truth about the Wild West in general and Wyatt Earp in particular. What twaddle. Hamill seems to have read one book about the Earps--Frank Waters' discredited Earp BROTHERS OF TOMBSTONE--and then pretty much relied on the time-honored journalistic tradition of Making Stuff Up. He didn't even really follow Waters very closely.

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7/10

Eye of the Beholder, or not?

vertmangue5 September 2016

Warning: Spoilers

There is something to be said for watching a film out of its time, specifically 45 or so years after its debut. DOC is many things besides not historically factual. True, it is a revisionist western. It may be a comment on Viet-Nam at the time or it may be a metaphor on American cultural icons having feet of clay. Other reviewers have dissected the film with keener insight than I. Having never seen the film until this weekend, there was something about the relationship scenes between Doc and Wyatt that felt uncomfortable for me: The touching, the caring, the glancing, the prolonged camera shifts between the eyes of these two friends who once had a "history" (unexplored), a separation (also unexplored), and now a reconciliation of sorts (semi-explored). There's no love, or even, like lost between Wyatt and Katie. Wyatt watches his friend and a woman move into their "honeymoon cottage" with a knowing sorrow. There's a femininity that pervades this film that doesn't just come from Dunaway's Katie Elder. Even the roll-on-the-ground fight scenes are somehow less than violent. The camera lingers just a bit too long on the wrestling Earp brothers scenes at the ranch. The fight between Ike and Wyatt reminded me more of gay-bashing incidents in NYC that I've read about than any "street-fight" I've witnessed in a HS corridor over the years .... Film history is replete with subtle nods to non-heterosexual sublimity. Hollywood even made a documentary to that effect. I suppose if you know you're going to revise western history you may as well do it with panache ...

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6/10

Stacey Keach plays Doc Holiday

srweber36920 November 2009

Warning: Spoilers

Dentist, gambler, and gun man this is the story of Doc Holiday and the gunfight in Tombstone, AZ. Stacy Keach does a good job in brining the historical character to life, and the movie does show him suffering from consumption (which is what he eventually died from). Faye Dunaway does an good job in bringing Kate Elder to life as Doc's lover. The movie does take some liberties though in the Kate knew and was a companion of John Holiday long before they arrived in Tombstone.

The main downfall of the movie is its some what slow pace, and glaring inaccuracies of the actual gunfight. For this reason I have down graded the movie.

Grade C

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7/10

Gunfight at the OK Corral

osloj2 January 2016

Warning: Spoilers

'Doc', from 1971, is an odd take on the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in 1881. It is more ambiguous than usual, and you really don't think that Doc Holliday was that willing to go along with his Earp friends in this version. It's vague and subdued and has some low-key acting, but I thought it was better than average and not a bad find.

Faye Dunaway's added as a trollop domestic love interest of Doc Holliday.

One thing to point out is that Wyatt Earp is portrayed by the characteristically unhandsome, "bug eyed" actor Harris Yulin ( Scarface (1983), Night Moves (1975), Clear and Present Danger (1994)). He's a bit odd and doesn't have the necessary power or gravitas to give him that punch that the character so richly deserves. Stacy Keach is fine as Doc Holliday, a bit of a rambler here.

The "Cowboys", the Earps' enemies, are the weak link, as they are just basically rude and not very interesting.

Still, it's worth a look.

Also recommended: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) Hour of the Gun (1967) Wyatt Earp (1994) Tombstone (1993)

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6/10

truth or lie?

jazerbini23 July 2012

This is a very strange film. We have the impression that the mix of characters is not plausible. Katie Elder and Doc Holliday? And a Wyatt Earp (character and actor) mediocre as this? Doc seems to be a character very close to reality, but Katie Elder had lived with him in Tombstone? The screenplay was awarded and must surely have been no previous research on its accuracy but we see Wyatt Earp does not store any resemblance to what we were shown today. In short: the secondary actors are not bad and the script gives us confidence that has real historical background. Saves only the competent Stacy Keach and Faye Dunaway. The rest is just the rest.

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4/10

The Worst of the O.K. Corral Showdown Epics

zardoz-1323 April 2011

Warning: Spoilers

Western movies are often based on real-life characters and incidents that filmmakers alter to accommodate their narrative agenda. One of the most infamous Old West feuds occurred between Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton and culminated in their showdown at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. Several films have depicted this contentious relationship, typically casting the Earps and Doc Holiday as the heroes and the Clantons as the villains. "Frontier Marshall," "My Darling Clementine," and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" are the best known oaters that celebrated the virtuosity of the Earps and Doc Holiday and vilified the wicked Clantons. "Magnificent Seven" director John Sturges changed everything with his revisionist spin of the legend in 1967 with "Hour of the Gun" as Wyatt Earp found himself not only hampered by the legal system in dealing with Clanton, but also discovered that he had little use for the legal procedure. He killed his enemies when he should have brought them in for trial. James Garner's Wyatt Earp became a quasi-villain. "David and Lisa" director Frank Perry and journalist Pete Hamill have gone far beyond "Hour of the Gun" with "Doc" to turn Wyatt Earp into an opportunistic villain. Unfortunately, "Doc" qualifies as a heavy-handed sagebrusher that simplifies history, reducing it to basics that distort history while delivering what constitutes a below average western. Strong performances by Stacy Keach, Harris Yulin, and Faye Dunaway, incomparable cinematography by "Fail Safe" lenser Gerald Hirschfeld, stupendous production design by Gene Callahan of "Hurry Sundown" fame cannot compensate for this lackluster shoot'em up. Anybody who knows anything about the feud between the Earps and the Clantons will be disappointed by this shallow, sketchy western made by people who had no business making a frontier fracas.

"Doc" is different from other Wyatt Earp melodramas because Perry and Hamill filter their recreation of those momentous events through the perspective of Earp's best friend Doc Holiday. Doc (Stacy Keach of "The New Centurions") is riding to Tombstone when he gets caught in a blinding sand storm and takes momentary refuge in a cantina. Talk about stereotypes. The fat, lazy, whining, good-for-nothing Hispanic bartender (Marshall Efron of "THX-1138") who runs the miserable little cantina in the middle of nowhere has cold beer. Clearly, "Doc" had to have been made in Spain because Mexican authorities were still reeling from the racist depiction of their country since the 1953 western "Vera Cruz" and had imposed censors on "The Magnificent Seven" set to make the natives look majestic in their poverty. Anyway, Doc meets grubby Ike Clanton (Michael Witney of "Darling Lili") while he is pawing Kate (Faye Dunaway of "Bonnie & Clyde") as the Kid (Denver John Collins of "Death by Invitation") sits by quietly. Doc challenges Ike to a card of poker for Kate. Initially, Ike doesn't want to bet Kate against Doc's horse because he is in love with her. Ike doesn't have any high regard for Doc and refers to him contemptuously as 'dude.' Not only does Doc beat Ike at cards but he also palms a derringer faster than Ike can empty his holster. Later, after Ike and the Kid have left, Doc and Kate wash up and ride off to Tombstone. They suffer in route because the fat, slimy Mexican has given them a canteen of vinegar rather than water.

Of course, Doc has gone to Tombstone to join his old Dodge City pal Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin of "Scarface") who is currently serving as a U.S. Marshal but who wants to be sheriff. Wyatt sees Tombstone has a gold mine that Doc and he can get rich mining. Wyatt is not the generous hero that either Henry Fonda or Burt Lancaster played. He is a dastard who would as soon pistol whip you than smile. Doc notices his abrasive attitude, especially after he befriends the Kid. The relationship between the Kid and Doc is reminiscent of a similar relationship between Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp in "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." The Kid worships Doc, particularly after Doc teaches him how to handle a six-shooter. When Wyatt lets his hate for Ike extend to the Kid, Doc takes objection. It seems that the stagecoach has been robbed of $80-thousand in gold. Wyatt suspects that Johnny Ringo (Fred Dennis of "Raging Bull") robbed it. With the upcoming sheriff's election, Wyatt wants to make a deal with his dreaded enemy Ike. If Ike will give up Ringo, Wyatt will give Ike the $20-thousand reward and take credit for capturing Ringo. Unfortunately, The Kid shoots a man in a dispute and lands in jail. Wyatt wants to use this as a way to blackmail Ike into helping him. Doc upsets his plans when he bails the Kid out. Not surprisingly, Ike backs out of his deal with Wyatt. This disagreement sparks the final confrontation at the O.K. Corral. Ironically, during the eventful shoot-out, Doc shoots the Kid in cold blood after the youth holsters his own revolver.

"Doc" is a drag. Perry and Hammill must have been venting their spleen against Nixon and the horrors of Vietnam. They seemed determined to debunk western history while at the same time skewering good entertainment. They make the Earps into first-class ruffians who see Tombstone as something to exploit. The Clantons are cattlemen, but they are never portrayed as big businessmen involved in cattle rustling. Indeed, they look like poor cattlemen, living as they do in a shack. Ike doesn't even pose a challenge as a villain. Mind you, all the movies made about the feud have taken liberties with history in some respect. "Doc" strays farther than any, to the point of neglecting several important events that could have heightened the enmity between Wyatt and Ike. Doc emerges as a tragic hero, and Kate is left to languish in the last quarter-hour. The rugged, picturesque landscape around Almería in southeastern Spain looks gorgeous. This is truly a disappointing western, memorable only for its departure from the norm.

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7/10

A revisionist version of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp!!

elo-equipamentos3 October 2023

So many times the cinema industry told the famous gunfight at OK corral when Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday have a duel against the Clantons, therefore they were portrait as heroes, otherwise in this new version conceived by Peter Hamil and Frank Perry, a sort of revisionist neo western, it was made in Spain at Almeria in order to cut the highest coast if it was shooting in America, according the own words of Stacy Keach on bonus material, he exposes many interesting facts concerning this newest version, as a open scene when Doc told his story by flashbacks and the final scene at graveyard when Doc is about to die, nonetheless the producers enforces a cut-off in the unusual approach, displeasing Stacy over this maiming of the conceptive premise.

At release time Doc wasn't well received by the critics and had a lowest results on box office as well, in my opinion for some key reasons as follow, first a revisionist western, second the actors often speaking in so softly way also on contemplative look, apart some similitudes on Arizona, Almeria is quite different in some aspects to replace the original environment, actually Tombstone has Chinese people working there at lowest jobs, it somehow lift the Doc in reliable storyline, instead the previous versions that never displayed such people that brought the opium to western that was commonly smoked in those house on Chinese quarter.

Now totally restored and reissued in DVD, it's a great opportunity to be reappraised for new audience aiming for to understand such vision of the filmmakers at early seventies, aside Stacy Keach we have Faye Dunaway who had worked in the successful Bonnie & Clyde as inveterate who.re and Harris Yurin depicting a bloodshed and greedy Marshal Wyatt Earp, worthwhile a look.

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5.

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3/10

Doc Needs to Be Cured *

edwagreen2 October 2010

Warning: Spoilers

Very slow, brooding peace. You often wonder where the slow plot is going to.

Stacy Keach stars as the legendary Doc. Faye Dunaway, is a young Katie Elder, who he wins in a card game. She kisses him in the mouth despite his tuberculosis. Didn't the audience flinch at that?

He introduces a young guy to shooting. The 18 year old goes on to gun down a man who annoyed him.

There is the usual shoot out at the end with the bad guys. You know what the result is.

Harris Yulin plays an engaging Wyatt Earp.

By the middle of the film, you're rooting for a quick ending so that you can exit the theater.

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8/10

A fine revisionist western.

MOscarbradley20 June 2019

This grim, realist western was produced and directed by Frank Perry in 1971 and recounted events that were already well-known to audiences about a certain 'Doc' Holliday, his friend Wyatt Earp and a particular gunfight at a particular corral but this one was down and dirty, (literally; Doc is scrubbing his woman, a certain Kate Elder, minutes into the movie), and telling it in a very different light. Of course, being the 'adult' version of the story doesn't mean it's any more 'truthful' than any of the others. In all these cases, I think it is best to stick to that old adage, 'Print the Legend'.

So how does "Doc" stand up against the others as cinema? The answer is actually pretty well. At his best, Perry was a fine director who was able to bring a keen intelligence to his material and in Stacy Keach, (Doc), Harris Yulin, (Earp), and Faye Dunaway, (Kate), he had three outstanding actors, while thanks to superb production design and the cinematography of Gerald Hirschfeld is also a terrific looking picture. However, it's let down somewhat by Pete Hamill's script which is so concerned with being 'different' that it actually ticks every cliche in the box. On the other hand, one of the films more interesting touches is to suggest that maybe Wyatt harbored feelings for Doc that were a little more than platonic. It may not be a 'great' western, then, but it's a fine piece of revisionism, so much so that its 'truthfulness' hardly matters at all.

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6/10

not quite right

SnoopyStyle3 June 2022

Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) and Katie Elder (Faye Dunaway) are headed for Tombstone. There they join Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin) and his brothers.

This tries to look right but something is off. Mostly, I don't see Stacy Keach as Doc Holliday. He is much more the Wyatt Earp type. These are iconic characters and one can feel it when the casting is wrong. It's otherwise mostly fine as a western. It's a bit slow and who cares about historic accuracy. They do have to cast the right actor.

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2/10

Too Bad

jhess-7854631 July 2016

The setting matches many of the similar gritty movies of the late 60's and early 70's. However, much like theses same types of movies, it needs to be viewed as comparable to a comic book or a simple diversion vs. any type of historically accurate story or even a good action film. The only thing this film includes that is something better than Tombstone is the background of Wyatt offering Ike a bounty reward and not being able to deliver.

Another reviewer points out the film writer's desire to show the Earps in a negative light...and thus, supposedly a more "realistic" depiction. It may be true that dime novels and films have portrayed Holiday and the Earps as unrealistic "hero" characters, but they were also not outright murderers. The truth is somewhere in between with a group of men trying to make a civilized life and future for themselves in a time and place when and where civilized society barely existed.

Keach's acting Skills are not strong in this film. Faye Dunaway is the best actor in this film, but that is not saying much. Overall this film is weak, so watch at your own risk.

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